# Absolute cigars! First time buyer, bad experience!



## Dune (Apr 16, 2014)

Hey guys

Does anyone have any experience with absolute_Cigars? I made an order 10 days ago with them.

It took them 5 days to ship (international, but still)

I have sent 3 emails requesting an explanation for the 5 day shipping delay; nothing. The website says 24hr turn around.

I still have not received a tracking number. USPS First-Class Package International Service (TM)

So I have posted on their Facebook page wanting to know where my tracking number is.

Should I just get a chargeback if I dont get a reply from them?

PS if this is in wrong forum please move. thanks


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## Fuzzy (Jun 19, 2011)

You should make every effort to contact the supplier before bringing complaints to this or any forum. But, since you brought it here, make sure you let us know the outcome of your purchase. It sometimes takes five days for me to recieve an online purchase here when ordering from an in country vendor.

Though I have not ordered from Absolute, I would imagine it would take at least five and probably more days to get a shipment from them. The website says seven to ten business days for overseas orders. The advertised 24 hour turnaround should not be included in shipping time. This is the time from when the order is recieved until the order is ready for shipping. Once the shipping company has the order in hand, the original vendor loses control of the product. Of course it would be nice to let the vendor know if the shipping company has failed.


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## Dune (Apr 16, 2014)

Fuzzy said:


> You should make every effort to contact the supplier before bringing complaints to this or any forum. But, since you brought it here, make sure you let us know the outcome of your purchase. It sometimes takes five days for me to recieve an online purchase here when ordering from an in country vendor.
> 
> Though I have not ordered from Absolute, I would imagine it would take at least five and probably more days to get a shipment from them. The website says seven to ten business days for overseas orders. The advertised 24 hour turnaround should not be included in shipping time. This is the time from when the order is recieved until the order is ready for shipping. Once the shipping company has the order in hand, the original vendor loses control of the product. Of course it would be nice to let the vendor know if the shipping company has failed.


My complaint was that it took 5 days for me to get a comfirmation that the shipment had been dispatched. I understand that shipping is not up to the vendor.

I thought 3 emails over 7 days was a good attempt to contact them, lol. They were fine to answer questions about what I should buy...

Hopefully they decide to answer their emails so I can find out whats going on...


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## demuths1770 (Jan 2, 2014)

yeah a 5 day trun around is long. i could see if maybe you ordered on a friday night not getting a 24 hour turn around but 5 days is a work week lol. i would try calling them. also they state they have great customer service wonder whats going on


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## Tobias Lutz (Feb 18, 2013)

I've ordered from a couple places internationally that took 5 days to dispatch. Unless the cigars sat on their dock, out of humidification, for that period waiting on the mail truck I don't think you have anything to worry about. IMO the internet marketplace (and I use it A LOT) has bred unreasonable impatience in us. I remember the days when I cut an order from out of a catalog, mailed it in with a money order, and waited 6-8 weeks to get my purchase (and I'm only in my 30s).


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## purepoker (Sep 15, 2011)

I have to ask, did none of the USA based vendors have what you were looking for? To me it's like buying a pair of Levi's from Ying Yang company out of China, instead of ordering from JCPenny... If you would like a list of US online vendors, let me know.



Dune said:


> Hey guys
> 
> Does anyone have any experience with absolute_Cigars? I made an order 10 days ago with them.
> 
> ...


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## Drez_ (Jan 30, 2014)

There are also a number of other factors to indicate how long a shipment might take. You included no real details other than you ordered and have been waiting. Certain products can cause longer delays due to shipping regulations. Lighters that come filled with butane can take up to three weeks to process and ship from US vendors to US addresses because of shipping and labeling regulations.

I imagine any international order can also take longer to process based on what you order. It can sometimes take the tracking systems days or a week to show any type of advancement even though your package is actually in transit. 

I also am curious as to -which- Absolute cigars you're speaking of, which may play a factor in your order as well.


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## Coolers (Nov 7, 2009)

purepoker said:


> I have to ask, did none of the USA based vendors have what you were looking for? To me it's like buying a pair of Levi's from Ying Yang company out of China, instead of ordering from JCPenny... If you would like a list of US online vendors, let me know.


OP is clearly not in the US. Give-aways: an international shipment being sent by USPS and the Kiwi city listed in his profile.


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## demuths1770 (Jan 2, 2014)

Coolers said:


> OP is clearly not in the US. Give-aways: an international shipment being sent by USPS and the Kiwi city listed in his profile.


the op has Christchurch as his city which i assume is Christchurch VA and how dose a USPS shipment show he is not state side?


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## Fuzzy (Jun 19, 2011)

If I am not mistaking, the OP, John is from New Zeeeland.

Also note, his credit card should not be charged until the order is shipped. This may be a way to see if shipping has occured.


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## kcviper (Mar 15, 2014)

I continue to be amazed at the lack of communication by some vendors. We don't know all the details here, but *if* the OP sent several unanswered emails over a weeks time without an answer, that is poor service. A simple response from the vendor can many times defray frustrations like this. Just saying......


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## purepoker (Sep 15, 2011)

Coolers said:


> OP is clearly not in the US. Give-aways: an international shipment being sent by USPS and the Kiwi city listed in his profile.


Well it wasn't/isn't clear to me. However I am wrong to assume he/she is in the USA. I digress.


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## Dune (Apr 16, 2014)

Nope, I live in new zealand.

"Dear logan jones, 
Thank you for the order you placed today with absolute cigars . We appreciate your business!

We will begin to process your order within 24 hours."

Now that was 11 days ago. 

I got a response from them today:

"Hi Logan,

Thanks for checking in with us. I do apologize for the wait on these and for the silence - We give our employees a week off in the Spring and it was this past week. I am truly sorry that this was not communicated to you earlier.

We have a few people back in the office today, and I personally just shipped your package, with a free cigar added: Our best selling bundled cigar, the Quorum Toro. I hope this goes a small way towards restoring your confidence in us.

So this package has shipped and You may track the order with tracking number:


Please note that this is postal service tracking, so your ability to track and follow progress is minimal once the package leaves the USA. But rest assured, it’s moving.

Thanks again for your patience, and as always, please don't hesitate to call or email me anytime with any other questions or comments. We're always happy to answer questions and hear feedback.

Best regards,

Mike"

Mike was the only person I was communicating with via email before... I saw no one else on the email headers but mike.

I am thankful that it has finally been sent but I do not think I will be ordering again from them again. 7+4 days waiting for shipment is pretty slack...

I cant clarify the actual website because I dont have 30 posts. It will be the first result on google search though..


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## Cigarer (Apr 12, 2014)

Kind of odd about the vacation thing, but different companies have different things they do like that. Personally, I would be a bit turned off if I was in your shoes, but not completely write them off- especially if it's harder to find companies to ship to you. At least they were nice enough to throw in a free stick.


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## Gheldan (Mar 22, 2014)

I dunno, I mean they should have shipped your stuff out before they all went on break. But they did admit their fault, apologize and explain, and then they made a restitution. Honestly I think they handled it with class.


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## Dune (Apr 16, 2014)

I used to run a small hobby chemical business. There were quite a few times when a shipment would be late( although I did say it could take up to 4 days to ship due to paperwork). But I would generally add 20-50% onto the order to make up for it. 

Ah well, people know now, and can make up their own mind. One cigar is nice, but if it had shipped promptly I would have them by now


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## Wicked_Rhube (Jul 29, 2012)

Fuzzy said:


> Also note, his credit card should not be charged until the order is shipped. This may be a way to see if shipping has occured.


An authorization will put a hold on your funds immediately. The merchant is not supposed to try to capture the funds until the merchandise ships, but that can just mean a box is packaged up and the shipping label is applied.

If the vacation story is true, it seems stupid not to have an email automatically reply stating such. Stupid as in it sounds like this has cost them future business.


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## Shemp75 (May 26, 2012)

Look on the upside, your getting a FREE Quorum Toro!!!!



^^^Complete and utter Sarcasm^^^


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## gtechva (Mar 9, 2014)

kcviper said:


> I continue to be amazed at the lack of communication by some vendors. We don't know all the details here, but *if* the OP sent several unanswered emails over a weeks time without an answer, that is poor service. A simple response from the vendor can many times defray frustrations like this. Just saying......


I agree. If something is going wrong or slow, let me know you're on it and I'm usually OK.


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## NormH3 (Apr 20, 2015)

dgge said:


> Very poor.
> Placed an order, did not receive any email to confirm the order.
> Used the online Contact Form to ask for a status update - no response.
> Sent an email directly to them to ask for a status update - no response.
> ...


If it's the place out of Virginia, they post an 800 number on their web site. Sounds as if a phone call is in order.


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## gtechva (Mar 9, 2014)

If they have my money, I can kill a cell phone battery calling every free moment. I might not get my money back, but I can have fun annoying the person who took it.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

dgge said:


> Thanks but no thanks.
> AbsoluteCigars have wasted enough of my time.
> I have made repeated (and different) attempts to contact them, to no avail.
> My contact details were in my order and in my follow-up emails - yet they made no attempt to contact me.
> ...


I have used a ton of Cigar Companies and probably have come across Absolute but do not ever remember ordering from them. Here's what I do and have done it for years no matter who the Vendor is....when i order something I call them to ensure that the order is being processed and then I ask for that order to be confirmed with a follow up email so that I have a written account of what took place. On that order I tend to get a confirmation, order date and time and a corresponding delivery date with a CS phone number. If the order does not appear at my address I call the Vendor to find out what is going on and if I am given details like...."well the order was sent to our shipping and it is now on backorder because it wasn't in stock"..or this one...."uh, let's see here as your order hasn't been processed yet but we're working on it." This is what turns me off to any Vendor and it's BS and what I do is tell em to cancel the order and that I will check with my Credit Card Vendor to dispute the charge immediately. A lot of Vendors don't really care as to what the Customer does at this point...reputable ones WILL fix the problem immediately and probably offer to give a discount to let you know that they are serious about Customer Service.

I tend to cringe when I see others post about bad service from Vendors and it's wise to call them first and try to get it straightened out first before lowering the boom on them......detailed posts as to what happened...how one called them to fix the issues tend to make them believable. Sending emails to Vendors is like trying to squeeze a box under your front door hoping it gets inside the house...emails get lost in translation pretty quick whereas a phone call where you get the persons name and other ID info tends to get you what you want in the first place. JMO here and experience.


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## ByronT (Dec 9, 2015)

I have been using another vendor for past 2 months. I have had no issues and find their service amazing. PM me for details. I am in Canada.


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## Yarddog (Mar 15, 2014)

If I have difficulty with a vendor, and that's rare in my experience in the cigar business, I shouldn't have to put a lotta effort into chasing down an order. There are plenty of reliable vendors out there, so if I get agitated with one, they simply go off my list. Simple as that.


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## NormH3 (Apr 20, 2015)

dgge said:


> Thanks but no thanks.
> AbsoluteCigars have wasted enough of my time.
> I have made repeated (and different) attempts to contact them, to no avail.
> My contact details were in my order and in my follow-up emails - yet they made no attempt to contact me.
> ...


So you come here and complain about a vendor but choose not to give them a phone call? I'm not following your logic at all.


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## Matt_21 (May 15, 2014)

I've used them a few times. Always slow or no communication. Always delayed shipping. And always response from Mike. I even got the same excuse that the previous poster did about the staff being on vacation but, it was a different time of year. Will not use them again and will not ever recommend them.


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## NormH3 (Apr 20, 2015)

dgge said:


> Ahh so when it comes to fixing poor customer service, its the responsibility of the Customer to chase the Supplier to get it fixed.. Yeah.. right... that makes total sense.:vs_worry:
> 
> I am an International customer, I am not going to also run up a huge international phone bill chasing after a supplier (that has already ignored two other separate means of communication).
> I have already made a reasonable (and repeated) attempt to contact the Supplier.
> ...


I give up. Do what you want. I guess you really didn't want the cigars anyway.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

dgge said:


> Ahh so when it comes to fixing poor customer service, its the responsibility of the Customer to chase the Supplier to get it fixed.. Yeah.. right... that makes total sense.:vs_worry:
> 
> I am an International customer, I am not going to also run up a huge international phone bill chasing after a supplier (that has already ignored two other separate means of communication).
> I have already made a reasonable (and repeated) attempt to contact the Supplier.
> ...


Let me jump on this before it goes south.....you asked a question and it has been answered by me w/o trying to make this a negative thread. You called out a specific Vendor....you acted like you were being proactive and International calls can be done with a calling card for cents on the dollar of which you could do but you seem to want to position yourself to call out the Vendor before you've actually done much of anything to resolve your issue. As I said before ....if you purchase a product and it isn't delivered....cancel the order and dispute the charge with your Credit Card Vendor...if you even used a CC...if you didn't then it's your loss as how to go through a dispute w/o ensuring you protect yourself. Don't continue a diatribe of something where you haven't done everything you can do to resolve conflict...whining about CS from a Vendor is fruitless if you didn't do your homework first.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

dgge said:


> Let me jump on your reply since you have already taken it South.
> "you asked a question..."
> Actually my original post was not a question at all, it was a statement of fact to highlight the Customer Service issue related to that site (so others don't need to suffer the same problem).
> 
> ...


Sounds like you need to break your meds in half.....you are trolling here...for whatever reason you feel justifies your posts please stop it now....you've made your point and any other negative points from here on will be met with discipline. Your query was answered....if you don't like the answer then be an adult and deal with like an adult and not a child...your call here....and I did read your posts about canceling the order from your CC. The answer I gave to you was for you and others when it comes to issues like this but you were already cocked and loaded to continue a diatribe of wanting to sound off....you made your point (albeit like a child) and you are given that right as long as you keep it respectful and now you've crossed the line with your attitude where it doesn't belong and you know it.....as long as you keep a respectful tone in future threads/posts you don't have to worry....but you've already shown that you have a problem so let's not let it occur again.


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## Yarddog (Mar 15, 2014)

Cigary said:


> Sounds like you need to break your meds in half.....you are trolling here...for whatever reason you feel justifies your posts please stop it now....you've made your point and any other negative points from here on will be met with discipline. Your query was answered....if you don't like the answer then be an adult and deal with like an adult and not a child...your call here....and I did read your posts about canceling the order from your CC. The answer I gave to you was for you and others when it comes to issues like this but you were already cocked and loaded to continue a diatribe of wanting to sound off....you made your point (albeit like a child) and you are given that right as long as you keep it respectful and now you've crossed the line with your attitude where it doesn't belong and you know it.....as long as you keep a respectful tone in future threads/posts you don't have to worry....but you've already shown that you have a problem so let's not let it occur again.


Excellent answer...excellent resolution to a simple problem. Just too easy these days to cry about a problem instead of nutting up and handling it with the offending party. Hopefully my post isn't adding fuel to the fire.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

You aren't adding fuel to the fire Vance and I appreciate your post. Threads are for gaining knowledge and using them for our own admonition...not for just throwing things out there to stimulate the public to get all riled up about topics. We need to understand that threads/posts come with a responsibility to seek out ways to "fix" things...not to just throw out subject matter like it's a 'jump ball' in basketball where the topic can become flammable at any moment. Thought provoking items are what we want to talk about....where topics can be analyzed and answers come from those thoughts and I've seen some posts from "new members" that tend to want to start things that are not welcome in a Forum of gentlemen.


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## Yarddog (Mar 15, 2014)

Completely agreed with you, Gary...access to the Interweb has changed things a lot, including the effort we put into resolving our own problems! Easier to put it out to the masses than take the bull by the horns and solve it ourselves. Also, if we get slighted, we tend to want everyone to know! I'm not necessarily bashing on the OP on this thread, just kinda making a general statement...

That's not to say that if we have continuing problems with a vendor, or if one problem is particularly egregious, yeah, the rest of us might want to know about it...after ALL reasonable steps toward resolution are taken.


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## NormH3 (Apr 20, 2015)

It's easy to bitch about a bad experience. Unfortunately not many give kudos to a good experience. I'm not just talking about cigars, but many things in life. Many years ago I worked for Texas Instruments in their field service division. At some point, some braniac decided we should have an 800 number placed on our company vehicles stating "How's My Driving". One of our techs pulled over to help a motorist with vehicle issues. The motorist took note of the number and some days later made a call to praise the tech for helping. The operator on the other end had no idea why they were calling and didn't log the report. We found out about this at some point later through a letter that the motorist sent to our local office. After that, I removed the number from my vehicle. Sorry for the off topic. I know...I digressed....


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## Flyingdutchman (Apr 21, 2016)

Were unable to send to UK - order seized by customs

however - immediate refund authorised following facebook contact

despite disappointment this is a first class response


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## JimmyPuff (Jun 17, 2016)

Flyingdutchman said:


> Were unable to send to UK - order seized by customs
> 
> however - immediate refund authorised following facebook contact
> 
> despite disappointment this is a first class response


so I have had service from these guys now.. Ordered on 20th May & no delivery. Shipping max of 20 days they said. 
No response from emails.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

JimmyPuff said:


> so I have had service from these guys now.. Ordered on 20th May & no delivery. Shipping max of 20 days they said.
> No response from emails.


If you read this entire thread and still placed an order. ...nothing left to say....plus this is your first post? I don't have enough hair left on my head to pull out.


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## JimmyPuff (Jun 17, 2016)

Cigary said:


> If you read this entire thread and still placed an order. ...nothing left to say....plus this is your first post? I don't have enough hair left on my head to pull out.


Yeah this my first post.
Is that a problem? I mean.. I've got to start somewhere right. 
The fact you don't have enough hair on your head really isn't my problem. :vs_unimpressed:


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## JimmyPuff (Jun 17, 2016)

Issue resolved.. Best way to contact.. Through facebook.


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## JimmyPuff (Jun 17, 2016)

These gys are 1st rate not onl issue resolved but really fast delivery!
Amazing. will buy from them again!


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